Lend Me That Gun

The army always valued strength above all else.

After experiencing it firsthand, Benjamin understood this even more deeply.

Thanks to the shooting interface that had mysteriously appeared through the system, he had fired a single shot and stunned the entire Gunfire Camp. The recruits' attitudes toward him had changed as dramatically as a roller coaster. Their eyes no longer held any mockery; instead, they were full of respect and admiration, and even the occasional hint of jealousy.

Benjamin felt a little guilty about it.

Unlike these people, who had trained so hard, he had relied entirely on outside help. It wasn't exactly honorable. If that shooting interface hadn't suddenly appeared, he would have made a fool of himself. But once he had the gun in his hands, he'd gotten carried away and really wanted to try firing it. After he'd raised the barrel, there was no taking it back. He'd just had to go through with it.

So after showing off a little, he quickly tucked his tail between his legs and kept a low profile.

As it turned out, that had been absolutely the right choice. Because before long, he was beaten half to death.

Even at Gunfire Camp, physical training was essential for soldiers—whether they were recruits or veterans. That whole morning, aside from the first shot, Benjamin never touched a gun again. The middle-aged man took it away, ordered Benjamin to join the ranks, and started the training.

The training consisted of running laps.

"You little brats haven't even grown all your hair yet, and you already want to touch a gun? Haven't you heard? This thing can take a man's life! I'm doing this for your own good. You'll thank me when the time comes!"

That was the middle-aged man's— their instructor's—explanation.

Benjamin couldn't help grumbling to himself. You're the most dangerous one here! With a gun that doesn't even have its safety on tucked into your waistband, you're going to shoot yourself in the balls or your ass.

But he was the only half-baked "recruit" who thought that way. Judging by the others, the instructor's orders were as good as law, and everything he did was right. They followed their duty to obey to the letter.

There was no helping it. Benjamin wasn't a soldier; he was only here for military training, and it was hard to expect him to be as single-minded as a real soldier. He was a mage. If he lost his ability to think independently and question everything, he might as well convert to The Church right now.

Before long, the instructor singled him out.

"You, at the back of the line! Get over here!"

After running more than ten laps, Benjamin was nearly exhausted as he made his way over to the middle-aged man.

"You were pretty impressive just now. Where'd all that spirit go? The fastest runner's already done twenty laps. What are you dawdling around in the back for?" The instructor launched straight into a scolding. "Where'd you use up all your strength? Haven't you eaten?"

Benjamin rested his hands on his knees and panted for a while, catching his breath. Then he said, "I really haven't eaten..."

"Before speaking to a superior, you have to say, 'Permission to speak, sir!'" The instructor immediately cut him off. "Go back! Come over here! Say it again!"

"..."

Dragging his unsteady feet, Benjamin went back to the running line, then came out again and returned to the instructor. Summoning all the strength he had, he shouted:

"Permission to speak, sir! I really haven't eaten!"

"..."

The scene grew awkward in an instant.

The expression on the instructor's face seemed about to crack. After several attempts, he finally managed to keep his stern look and roared at Benjamin, "Not eating is no excuse! Do you think the enemy will go easy on you just because you haven't eaten? Get back to running! Don't even think about eating until you've finished a hundred laps!"

In the end, Benjamin left the military camp lying down.

All morning, Benjamin felt like he'd run more laps than he had in his entire life. Luckily, the maid who had brought him there called a carriage to the camp gate at noon and took him back. Otherwise, he would've collapsed on the way home.

When he returned to the Riser Family, he didn't even have the strength to join the others in the dining room for lunch. He could only go back to his bedroom and collapse onto the bed, unable to get up again. He asked Jeremy to bring him a few pieces of bread and dealt with his hunger while lying in bed.

After eating the bread, he sent Jeremy off on an errand, then stayed alone in his bedroom, wanting nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep.

But he didn't. He forced himself to stay alert, entered Consciousness Space, and began his magic practice for the day.

It had already become part of his daily routine, something he could never skip.

After meditating for some time, Triangle Glyph had almost completely changed. Its light had gone from pale blue to deep blue, as if it contained boundless magic power, giving it a mysterious quality that made him dizzy just looking at it. The water ball he summoned with it was now larger than Axel Full's fat head.

Benjamin estimated that if he compressed the water ball in his hand and hurled it, it could knock out a strong adult man unless he was protected by thick armor.

He'd gone from washing someone's face to punching them. The spell was finally beginning to take shape.

Not only that, but as Triangle Glyph grew stronger, Benjamin felt his control over magic gradually improving as well. He could summon water balls faster and control them more precisely.

He could now use a water ball fairly skillfully to form a defensive bubble around himself. Of course, its defensive power was still far from sufficient. It wouldn't burst at the slightest touch, but even an ordinary sharp object could break it quite easily.

Benjamin wasn't satisfied. He planned to use this thing to fight mages and priests. If it couldn't even block a mortal's sword, how could it defend against magic? Any knight could break through it, let alone a Purifier.

He still had to keep practicing!

As for the healing effect of the Water Ball Spell, Benjamin had also spent some time studying it. He deliberately cast the spell more than twenty times and finally managed to summon a few drops of Water of Life, which he used to study the difference between it and the Water Ball Spell.

After observing it, he discovered that the water elements in the Water of Life were combined in a very special structure, somewhat like a strange cube. When water elements were arranged in this structure, they gave rise to a wondrous vitality. This vitality was what gave the Water of Life its healing properties.

When he tried applying this principle to the Water Ball Spell, Benjamin found that controlling water elements at a microscopic level was extremely difficult. Fortunately, with Triangle Glyph's help, he still managed to create a healing water ball. But maintaining this structure was difficult for now, and its healing effect had a very short "shelf life"—only about ten seconds.

He would have to wait until the glyph grew stronger before he could figure out how to make healing water balls that lasted longer.

And so, from offense to defense to healing, Benjamin had begun to grow in every direction, even if he was still far from skilled in any of them. New skill points were waiting just ahead. This was a period of rapid growth for his abilities.

He wished he could forget to eat and sleep, spending all his time practicing.

If not for the "military training" that came next.

Although it would take up a lot of his time, Benjamin didn't mind military training, given the chance to use a gun. Still, judging by today's training, he was a long way from getting his hands on one. He had no idea how many more days he'd have to spend running laps.

On the bright side, his physical fitness would gradually improve.

"By the way, how advanced are firearms in this world?" Benjamin suddenly asked the system.

The system thought for a moment before answering, "Pretty average. How should I put it... There are pistols, cannons, and rifles. Pistols can be reloaded, and they're reasonably powerful, but they're not very well regarded."

Benjamin frowned. "That sounds like you didn't tell me anything at all."

The system immediately took offense and retorted indignantly, "There's no internet here, and I'm not Baidu Encyclopedia. Do you think I know everything?"

"...All right." Benjamin could only accept it helplessly.

He'd been hoping to rely on the system's knowledge to improve pistols and build something like an AK27.

But then again, who had that much useful information stored on their computer? He was also curious about how the protagonists in those novels remembered so many modern scientific principles. Why could they casually advance technology after traveling to another world, making chemicals and building cannons, while he couldn't even make a bar of soap?

It was great when an author worked hard and was willing to look things up on Baidu.

He was jealous.

Still, perhaps the system wanted to prove its usefulness. It went on to give him a general overview of firearms in this world.

From the system's explanation, he learned that guns weren't as important as he'd imagined.

According to the system, this was a world with supernatural abilities, where magic and divine arts held sway. They were used not only in war, but also to enchant swords and bless armor. Ordinary bullets couldn't even pierce a blessed shirt, let alone a divine shield. Divine arts could also bless bullets, but that cost too much, so people usually blessed the "bullets" fired from cannons instead.

One more thing: enchanting a pistol with divine arts or magic was useless unless you used the pistol to hit someone with it.

Although many countries also equipped their armies with Gunfire Camps, they were only used as supplementary long-range forces. They weren't taken seriously and held a lower status than the artillery.

Pistols were generally used by agile mercenaries, as well as by nobles and wealthy merchants for self-defense. The gun Dick had carried that day was probably one he'd stolen from his own home.

That was the situation for ordinary people, but things were different for Benjamin.

He had that shooting system from the online game, so hitting the target every time wouldn't be a problem. As for power and enchantments, he could learn those later. So shooting was still very useful to him.

At least until his water balls could instantly destroy everything under heaven and earth, a gun remained his most direct and effective means of attack.

Of course, all of that depended on him having a gun.

He still needed to find a chance to get one.

The government officially banned the sale of guns, but in practice, it didn't really care. Every noble family kept one or two guns hidden away, and the Riser Family was no exception. Benjamin had considered stealing one from his own home, but the gun would definitely be missed, which would cause trouble. So he'd given up on that idea.

What he needed was a gun only he knew about, one he could keep hidden on him at all times.

After weighing his options, he finally decided to buy a gun in the Outer City.

Havenlight was the largest city on the continent, and the Outer City accounted for three quarters of its area. Although it was also The Church's headquarters, the Church had spent most of its efforts expanding outward in recent years. As a result, some parts of Havenlight's Outer City could even be called lawless.

After making Jeremy run several errands, Benjamin had learned quite a bit about the Outer City. Once, when Jeremy came back, he told Benjamin that he'd accidentally seen guns being bought and sold in a certain place. So Benjamin wouldn't be going in completely blind.

He wasn't worried about The Church finding out. The Church's people were always watching him. They didn't keep a close eye on him, but if he wanted to buy a gun, there was no way he could shake them.

The bishop would certainly find out that he'd bought a gun, but so what?

In the bishop's eyes, he was just a frightened nobleman. Especially after what had happened in the castle, secretly buying a gun somewhere like the black market out of fear of witches and a desire to protect himself was perfectly understandable.

As long as The Church didn't know about his connection to magic, they wouldn't suspect him.

As for the possible dangers in the Outer City, as long as he stayed outdoors and didn't go into some little room, he didn't believe anything dangerous could happen with people from The Church watching him.

Besides, The Church had given him a pendant, so he could protect himself now. There was still some risk, but if he wasn't willing to take even that much, what kind of transmigrator was he? A pistol was pretty important to him, after all.

Still, to be on the safe side, he planned to sneak into Claude's study first and steal the pistol Claude had hidden there, relying on his memory to find it. He'd borrow it for the time being, then return it once he got his own gun.

And so, he spent the afternoon practicing while lying in bed, and his aches and pains eased considerably. After dinner, he successfully stole the gun from the study, then slipped out of the Riser Family home under cover of night.

He set off for the place in Havenlight's Outer City where, according to rumors, guns were bought and sold.